More publishing news!

I am so excited to share some more publishing news! As I had posted earlier, one of my cards was selected to appear in the January issue of Cards magazine. I just received another email from Susan Opel, an editor at Papercrafts magazine, requesting another of my cards! I will have a baby card appearing in the March/April issue of Papercrafts magazine. SO EXCITING-I can't even put it into words.

More exciting news is that I have a card set that will be appearing on http://www.scrapbooking.com/ in a little while. I don't have a lot of information on this yet, but I will share as soon as I do.

Lots of fun things happening for me right now-I'll keep you all updated as much as possible. It's all a little overwhelming (but exciting!) right now.

Have a great week, and thanks for stopping by!

Be Mine

I know it seems like it's a little off-season to be making Valentine's Day cards, but I had all of these papers out working on submissions for magazines, which are actually planning their spring issues right now.

I didn't want to miss out on Get Sketchy's first sketch challenge, either. If you haven't checked out their blog, you can see it HERE. When I first looked at the sketch, I didn't really know what to do with the curve down the left side. It was very different from what I would normally do (which is the fun part of challenges like this.) I went with my first thought, which was to create a wavy flap and make the card a tri-fold. This card was the result.

Thanks for looking!

By the way, I still have a few ShareCroppers kits left. You can see the details in the previous post. Thanks!

Welcome to ShareCroppers!

Here is a peek at the first kit I am offering through my new business, ShareCroppers. In this Charter Member Kit, you will receive supplies, step-by-step instructions and patterns for the following projects: 4 cards (each A2 size), 1 gift bag topper, and one 10-page 6X9 flocked chipboard album. The best part is, the cost for this kit is only $20 plus tax!

I wanted to make my kits fun, useful and affordable, and I think this kit meets all of these requirements. This kit is fun because it combines black and white with bright, fun colors. I think we are sometimes a little scared to try black and white as a base for our projects because we don't know what to put with it. These bright colors from American Crafts are perfect.

I find the projects in this kit to be very useful, too-use the cards yourself to build your "on-hand" stash and add sentiments later, or give them as a gift. There are four different card designs. Make all of your cards the using the same design, or make one of each. These kits are flexible!

Finally, this is the most affordable option I've seen for kit clubs. My kits will be available twice per month (new kits premier on the 1st and 15th of each month.) There is no subscription to buy-just get the kits that you want! Another bonus with these kits is that when you buy one or both kits during a month, you get to attend the monthly crop FREE! This allows you to make the projects in the comfort of your own home or if you prefer personal instruction ( or just the social aspect of crops) you can attend the crop where I will walk you through the projects step-by-step.

It really is that easy! To order a Charter Member Kit, simply email me at sharecropperskits@gmail.com or call me at (207) 474-6682. I am offering free local delivery or I can ship it to you. Shipping prices will be the actual shipping costs and will vary with each kit.

Charter Member Kit Contents: 1 Making Memories 6x9 flocked chipboard album, 10-12x12 sheet of cardstock (2 each: black, white, tan, aqua, magenta), 3-8.5x11 sheets of cardstock (black, white, aqua), 4 envelopes, 2-a2 sixe embossed aqua cardstock, 12x12 double-sided American Crafts patterned paper, 3-2x6 American Crafts patterned paper, 2-12" American Crafts patterned paper die-cut borders, 4 die-cut circle tags, 2 scalloped die-cut circle tags, 24 embossed die-cut butterflies (2 designs-aqua, black), 24" black gingham ribbon, 1 yard white string, 12 buttons (4 each: black, white, aqua), 4 glitter brads (white, aqua), 1 metal "Thank You" charm, pattern sheet and full-color instructions.

I'm so excited and simply cannot wait to show you what's in store for September!

I'm SO excited!

I just got the most exciting email I've ever received-I'm going to be published for the first time ever! One of my cards is going to be published in the January 2010 issue of Cards magazine! I can't stop smiling! :D

This is perfect timing, as my daughter Jordan pointed out, since today is my last day working at A Time to Remember. The store has been sold and I have decided not to continue teaching classes there.

More exciting news, though-my classes and kits will still be available through my new business, ShareCroppers. I will be offering kits (complete with all materials and instructions, along with photos of the finished projects here on my blog.) New kits will be available on the 1st and 15th of each month, beginning on Monday with our Charter Member Kit. I will also be hosting a monthly crop at the end of each month where scrappers and cardmakers can get together. (More info on the crops will be available soon. The first crop will be at the end of September.) Please tune in on Monday for full details and to check out the first kit.

So lots of exciting things are happening here today. I'll keep you all posted (as long as my laptop cooperates!)

Sorry for the lack of projects posted here lately-my laptop died, was repaired, then died again this morning. Unfortunately, that's where all of my photos and photo-editing programs are. Hopefully she'll be healthy again soon! :)

Paper Bag Mini Album

I created this fun little mini album from paper lunch bags, three sheets of patterned paper, and three sheets of 8.5 X 11" cardstock. Some stickles and Scrapper's Floss added a fun feel and left plenty of room inside for pictures. I love the cardstock tags, too-they slide into the pockets created from the paper bags. You could add additional photos, journaling, or both to the tags, and even slide some summer memorabilia into the pockets, too. (Think business cards, brochures, postcards, maps...)

To create this album, take four brown paper lunch bags and fold them each in half. Now unfold them and stack them, rotating every other. Fold in half again, and use a hole punch (I used a Crop-o-dile) to punch two holes near the fold. Insert binder rings to hold your book together.

Believe it or not, this is all there is to creating this album! Now you can embellish the inside pages. For each inside page, I distressed the edges of a 4 X 4" square of patterned paper. (I really like the Snorkel line from Cosmo Cricket.) I roughed up the edge with an Edge Distresser from Heidi Swapp. Then I simply adhered the patterned paper to each page. I recommend Glue Dots to adhere the papers and embellies to the bags-photo splits did not hold very well. My accents were cut from the Snorkel Elements patterned paper. I added a bit of stickles to each element after adhering to my page.

For the tags, I cut each piece of 8.5 X 11" cardstock into 6 pieces (4.25" square-you can use the scraps for another project.) I folded a piece of patterned paper in half for each pull-tag, adhered it to the cardstock, punched a hole and tied on some Scrapper's Floss.

I've posted just the cover here on the blog, but you can see all of the pages in my album HERE.

Thanks for looking!

So Much Love

Here is my take on this week's sketch at 2S4Y. Very simple card-pretty close to the original sketch. I made the card business-sized, which is very different from what I usually make. It measured 8.5" X 3.5" finished. I am trying to make a dent in everything in my stash, and these papers, stamps and chipboard are all goodies that I brought home from CKC. Patterned paper from Sassafras Lass, yellow and pink Double Dot cardstock from Bo Bunny, stamps from Technique Tuesday, chipboard heart from Fancy Pants, border punch from Fiskars.

Thanks a bunch for looking!